For gun control, now what? A look at the issue WASHINGTON (AP) — The impassioned push for new gun laws, born from the slaughter of schoolchildren, has collided with the marble-hard realities of Congress. Just persuading the Senate to debate tougher laws was considered a high hurdle for gun control advocates. They did it with the aid of Newtown, Conn., families, who brought photos and stories of the slain to the Capitol. A series of Senate votes Wednesday marked the biggest moment in nearly...

Obama, victims’ families overcome by gun owners WASHINGTON (AP) — Four months ago, President Barack Obama promised a grieving nation he would do everything in his power to change gun laws after 26 students and staff were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Turns out his power and the impassioned pleas of devastated families were no match for the force of gun rights advocates in Congress and across the nation. The National Rifle Association and its energized supporters overcame na...

PA abortion clinic worker: I saw 10 babies breathe PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A whistle-blowing worker testified Thursday that she saw more than 14 babies born alive at a Philadelphia abortion clinic, capping a month of prosecution evidence in her former boss’s capital murder trial. Prosecutors chose Kareema Cross as their final witness before resting their case against Dr. Kermit Gosnell. Cross said she saw more than 10 babies breathe, with their chests moving up and down. “I thought they were breat...

FBI issues photos of 2 suspects in Boston bombing BOSTON (AP) — Plucking a couple of blurry faces in baseball caps out of a swarming crowd, the FBI zeroed in on two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing and shared surveillance-camera images of them with the world Thursday in hopes the public will help hunt them down. The photos and video depict one young man in a dark cap and another in a white cap worn backward, both carrying backpacks and one walking behind the other on the sidewalk near ...

Police recover stolen cars within 6 hours The Pope County Sheriff’s Department and the Atkins Police Department, with the assistance of Special Agent Joe Carter of the Arkansas State Police and Officer Andre Pruitt of the Arkansas Highway Police, recovered four stolen vehicles within six hours of the vehicles being reported missing on wednesday. The vehicles were reported stolen from Russellville, Atkins and Pope County. “I would like to publicly commend the deputies and other officer...

Wife of ex-judge confesses in Texas DA slayingsKAUFMAN, Texas (AP) — Authorities say the wife of a former judge has confessed to being involved in the shooting deaths of a North Texas district attorney, his wife and an assistant prosecutor. Kim Lene Williams was arrested early Wednesday. Kaufman County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Justin Lewis says Williams is being charged in all three deaths. Lewis says she is being held on $10 million bond. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Williams ...

Pa. abortion trial: Assistant gave anesthesia PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A woman trained only as a medical assistant told jurors Wednesday that she gave anesthesia, set dosing amounts and performed ultrasounds when she worked at a now-shuttered abortion clinic whose owner is charged with killing a patient and seven babies. Latosha Lewis testified as prosecutors wrap up their five-week case against Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72. A string of former employees have testified that they went to work at the c...

Trespassing accusation leaves Sanford on his own MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) — Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s political comeback already hinged on persuading conservative voters in the state’s Lowcountry to forgive him for past infidelity and political mistakes. Now he’ll have to do it with his ex-wife accusing him of repeatedly trespassing in her home. That revelation prompted the National Republican Congressional Committee to pull its support from the campaign Wednesday, a day aft...

Ariz. bill passed makes cities sell turned-in guns PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona cities and counties would have to sell guns turned in at community buyback events instead of destroying them under a law passed by the Legislature. The bill doesn’t have any effect on guns seized by law enforcement, which already have to be sold to a federally licensed dealer under a law passed last year. But that didn’t stop a lengthy debate that veered into the possibility that the gun used to shoot U.S. Rep. Gabrielle...

Contemplating chaos in a nation of ‘soft targets’ When her cousin and 11 others were gunned down at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater last July, Anita Busch lost all interest in her favorite television crime dramas. And when she heard that three people had been shot dead at an Oregon shopping mall in December, she stopped her Christmas shopping and sneaked out the back door of a department store. “After Aurora, even my little niece who’s 11 was afraid to go into a mall, to go shopping,” the Los...

FBI: Miss. man arrested, accused in ricin letters OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man was arrested Wednesday, accused of sending letters to President Barack Obama and a senator that tested positive for the poisonous ricin and set the nation’s capital on edge a day after the Boston Marathon bombings. FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen said Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested at 5:15 p.m. at his apartment in Corinth, near the Tennessee state line about 100 miles east of Memphis. It ...

Spirited 8-year-old among Boston Marathon victims BOSTON (AP) — Third-grader Martin Richard had just gotten ice cream and was near the Boston Marathon finish line, eagerly watching for friends to run by. Krystle Campbell was enjoying the race with her best friend, hoping to get a photo of the other woman’s boyfriend after he conquered the last mile. Then the unthinkable struck. The spirited 8-year-old, pictured on Facebook in his classroom holding a sign that read “No more hurting people,” wa...

Lawyer: Assaulted teen had drawings, name on body SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Awakening in a friend’s bedroom after drinking too much at a sleepover, 15-year-old Audrie Pott looked down and realized she had been sexually assaulted and her attackers had written and drawn on intimate parts of her body, her family’s attorney said Monday. Over the next week, she pieced together one horrifying detail after another. She went online and tried to confront the three boys she had known since junior high wh...

Bond Hearings (April 16, 2013)The following people appeared during felony bond hearings Monday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed for each person. If charged, the accused will appear on June 3 in Pope County District Court. • Clayton Felkins, 22, theft of property — $7,500. A Russellville Police Department report stated that in Feb. 2013, an alleged victim reported her residence was broken into. The polic...

In White House, Newtown mom pleads for gun control WASHINGTON (AP) — The mother of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Connecticut school shooting used the opportunity to fill in for President Barack Obama during the weekly radio and Internet address to make a personal plea from the White House for action to combat gun violence. “Thousands of other families across the United States are also drowning in our grief,” said Francine Wheeler, choking back tears in the address broadcast Saturday. “Please ...

Lawyer: Girl’s assault was shared in photos, texts SARATOGA, Calif. (AP) — The parents of a 15-year-old California girl who took her own life after she was sexually abused and an explicit photo of the assault circulated among her classmates want the three boys who have been arrested in the case prosecuted as adults, a lawyer for the family says. Authorities arrested the three 16-year-olds on suspicion of sexual battery against Audrie Pott, a Saratoga High School sophomore who hanged herself in...

Alamo-linked groups seek immunity as charities TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — Organizations connected to imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo want to use an Arkansas law that gives charities immunity to lawsuits as a defense against legal action from Alamo’s former wives. Attorney John Rogers of Clayton, Mo., filed a motion earlier this month asking U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey to permit him to raise the defense of charitable immunity on behalf of Twenty First Century Holiness Tabernacle Church In...

Bond Hearings (April 13, 2013)The following people appeared during felony bond hearings on Friday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed. If charged, they will appear on June 3 in Pope County District Court. • Aaron Brock, 19, breaking and entering, theft of property and criminal mischief — $20,000. A Russellville police report stated an officer saw Brock leaving a local salvage yard at approximately 12:30 a....

Discharge recommended for Navy officer in Conn. GROTON, Conn. (AP) — A former submarine commander who faked his death to end an extramarital affair should be honorably discharged from the Navy, a panel of officers recommended Friday after a daylong hearing in which the officer said he accepted “full and total accountability” for his behavior. Cmdr. Michael P. Ward II, a married 43-year-old, sent his mistress in Virginia an email in July posing as a fictitious co-worker named Bob and saying ...